Is the recent political thaw in Myanmar genuine? Democratic elections are coming to the long-reclusive southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly Burma. A long military dictatorship has nominally ended, and the regime has signed peace treaties with several ethnic separatist insurgencies. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's long house arrest is over, and she is campaigning for a seat in Parliament in the upcoming April 1 vote. Western investment is beginning to mass, which may ultimately be the reason the country is finally opening its doors. Other speculation on the thaw points to the incompetent emergency response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which left as many as 140,000 dead and sowed deep dissatisfaction with the government. Whatever the reasons for the unprecedented opening, the isolated and impoverished Burmese people are eager to reconnect with and catch their more developed neighbors in ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations. While it's impossible to represent every corner of any nation, collected here are images from the last couple of months in Myanmar, a nation of 55 million. -- Lane Turner (41 photos total)

A child waits for the arrival of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Pyar Pon in the Irrawaddy Delta region on February 17, 2012. She wears thanaka on her face, a paste made from wood bark popularly used as both a beauty cosmetic and protection from the sun. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)

Cashiers are seen behind piles of kyat banknotes as they count them in a private bank in Yangon on July 21, 2011. Myanmar's central bank aims to set the exchange rate of the kyat at around 820 per US dollar, close to its black market rate, as the nation pushes ahead with economic reform. (Soe Zeya Tun/Files/Reuters) #

Buddhist nuns pray during a farewell ceremony for Ashin Pyinyar Thiha, the head of the Shwenyawar monastery, before he leaves the monastery in Yangon on February 19, 2012. Ashin Pyinyar Thiha was ordered out of his monastery by Buddhist elders who said he had given an inappropriate speech at an office of Aung San Suu Kyi's party. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images) #

An ethnic Kachin child suffering from malaria receives a traditional treatment at a camp for people displaced by fighting between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, outside the city of Myitkyina on February 22, 2012. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters) #

A woman and her child play at a public phone shop in Myanmar's new capital Naypyitaw on March 1, 2012. Myanmar has fewer phones per capita than any other country and probably the fewest Internet connections, and that has regional telecoms and IT companies licking their lips. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters) #

Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand hits out of a bunker during the second day of the Zaykabar Myanmar Open at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club in Yangon on February 3, 2012. (Khalid Redza/AFP/Getty Images) #

Policemen and villagers use sticks and grass cutters to destroy a poppy field above the village of Tar-Pu in the mountains of Shan State on January 27, 2012. Myanmar has dramatically escalated its poppy eradication efforts, threatening the livelihoods of impoverished farmers who depend upon opium as a cash crop to buy food. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) #

An ethnic Mon woman washes her children in the village of Ban Bor Yeepun near the Burmese border with Thailand on February 20, 2012. Myanmar's new government signed a ceasefire deal with New Mon State Party and its military wing, the Mon National Liberation Army, on February 1, 2012. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters) #

A boy gets his head shaved by a Buddhist monk after being sent by his family to live the life of a monk for seven days as part of a ritual in Yangon on March 4, 2012. Boys between the ages of seven and 18 in Myanmar are traditionally sent by their family to experience the life of a monk for a short span of time. (Staff/Reuters) #

An ethnic Shan boy novitiate wears a traditional outfit during a ceremony in a village on the outskirts of Lashio. Such ceremonies take place across predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar when children under the age of 18 enter novice-hood for short periods of a few days and get a taste of monastic life. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images) #

Burmese trainees learn in the kitchen of the Shwe Sa Bwe cookery school in Yangon. As Myanmar opens up to the world, one cooking school is giving prospective chefs a chance to shine in the bustling kitchens of Yangon as the city prepares for an influx of foreign visitors. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images)#

Buddhist novices recite teachings on January 28, 2012 at their monastery in a village scheduled to be flattened and relocated to make way for a planned $50 billion port and factory development in Dawei. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)#

The Me N Ma Girls band performs at a hotel in Yangon on March 24, 2012. Myanmar pop is dominated by copies of international tunes, accompanied by sometimes incongruous Burmese lyrics about heartbreak and failed love. Only a few artists are able to struggle into the mainstream in Myanmar, where rampant piracy has suffocated the music industry and strict censorship has controlled everything from lyrics to outfits. One act trying to forge its own sound is the Me N Ma Girls, a five-member band who write their own songs in English and Burmese, including one urging Myanmar's diaspora around the world to return and help development. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)#

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses supporters during a campaign rally on the outskirts of Yangon on March 21, 2012. Myanmar has invited US, European and other observers for by-elections next month, allowing international scrutiny of polls seen as a major test of its reform credentials. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images)#